The idea is to buy one that suits your needs, out of the box, as much as possible. People who spend big money on a carbine, then end up replacing the handguard etc aren't really putting much thought into their purchase. For a minute though think about people who buy factory bolt guns, then replace the stock, replace the barrel trigger etc... I am guilty of this. Perhaps it is because there aren't factory rifles made that suit certain peoples tastes, no doubt it is the same with AR's.Quote:
Originally Posted by ebf
The Daniel Defense rifle I linked to above, while at the upper end of the price scale, doesn't really need anything else done to it, other than an optic, and a good trigger, if you can't live with a mil spec trigger.
The attraction for me is they just feel better. All of the other semi auto rifles I have used feel like junk in comparison. AR's point, carry and almost always shoot better than commonly available semi auto center fire rifles. Even rimfire AR's are better - I find them to be significantly nicer to shoot than say a 10/22, though they are not as reliable.
An AR with a good barrel and a free float fore end will hang with a bolt gun of comparable quality accuracy wise full stop really. The advantage to some bolt guns is the fact that they can run higher BC bullets, like the A max and Berger VLD's at mag length, where they turn an AR into a single shot (Service Rifle shooters in the USA do this sometimes for really long distance matches)
As to jamming issues, I put it down to user inexperience. Some people have a lot of misconceptions about AR's, thanks to the internet. Some think you have to run them dry, which is a quick road to frustration. Lots of A cat mags are really shit and prone to causing stoppages - this is one of the biggest pluses for having an E cat AR, much better mags. Some AR's are just of dubious build quality. People palm off parts as being from x,y,z US manufacturer, but in reality they are some no name made in Asia part. These parts have caused problems, some Korean made bolts marketed as an American name brand come to mind.
To some it up, if you shoot an AR of known quality, properly lubricated with good mags, you will be happy. You would have to hunt or compete with one for a year to understand, but in my opinion the other contemporary semis we are used to like AK's, Mini's, SKS's etc are not even in the same court. I've shot PE90's, AUG's, SL8's etc as well, all quality guns, but still prefer an AR, as a hunter and target shooter, it does what I want and does it well.
